S is also for Secret Service, and Stupid

Three people were ejected from a taxpayer-funded event because of a No Blood
for Oil bumper sticker. This was a while ago.

But White House press secretary Scott McClellan backed the trio's ouster,
saying in April, "If we think people are coming to the event to disrupt it,
obviously, they're going to be asked to leave."

Obviously. They must have steeped outside the Free Speech Zone. I
wonder why their shock collars
("Your dog will never fear you for the correction received.") didn't go off.

They thought they were being told to leave by the SS.

The trio, who have been nicknamed the Denver Three, said the event staffer
who confronted them was dressed like a Secret Service agent, wearing a suit,
radio earpiece and lapel pin that identifies people with security
clearance. The Secret Service has said the man was not an agent.

Bauer and Weise say they were pulled aside at the gate and were told by
another event staffer to wait for the Secret Service. They said the man who
showed up threatened them with arrest if they misbehaved.

The investigation, which just ended, concluded that the man was not
committing the crime of impersonating the SS. He was just wearing a dark suit,
radio earpiece, and lapel pin that identifies people with security clearance
threatening to arrest people at an event featuring the President. Right.

Stupid.

Further:

The White House has described the man as a "White House
volunteer" and refused to identify him.

(double-take) Huh?

First, you can volunteer at the White House? Do we not pay people to work
there?

Do you get to work in the kitchen and ladle soup out to the hungry Cabinet
Secretaries, maybe rubbing their feet and handing out fresh blue blankets?

Second, these volunteers have the authority to suggest (while wearing dark
suits) that people leave a political event? Who are they accountable to again?

I understand that people volunteer to help with campaign rallies. I do not
understand that people volunteer to help run the White House. I guess they have
interns (I seem to remember something about that), but I don't know if they are
paid or not, and anyway, this guy was no intern.

Next time a group of men in dark suits with earpieces and lapel pins
indicative of security clearance threaten to arrest you at event featuring the
President, don't worry; they're just volunteers. Thank them for their good
deed, perhaps make a witty remark about how this must be a nice resume builder
for them, and continue on.